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Not only can it be a used in black on white crimes, but it’s being used in crimes between people of the same race.

If you’re in a movie theater and somebody is upset with you for texting, proving you’re not scared isn’t worth your life.

If an irate shopper is upset because you have too many groceries n the 20 items or less line, either gather your groceries and leave or, as J. Anthony Brown says, start eating until you’ve reduced the right number.

If someone curses you out, you start cursing and they shoot you claiming they felt threatened, even if they lose the case using the “Stand Your Ground” defense, you’re still dead.

There was a time when black people had to back down, avert their eyes, and move to the other side of the sidewalk when a white man was passing.  I’m not suggesting any of that.

But I am saying a similar kind of fear and hatred is alive and well among a lot of white people today. They are stirred up by the Tea Party, ultra conservative Republicans and, yes, announcers on “Christian” radio stations.

These people who would never have the guts to make a move themselves make their audiences believe that it’s their duty to stop whatever they claim the president is doing to our country.

They’re made to believe that their “American” values and democracy itself is being threatened.

We can’t stop the tide of fear-based hatred, but history teaches us that at some point, the battle must be fought.

But let’s just not be baited into an altercation that ends in nothing but tragedy.

“Stand Your Ground” is no joke, whether you’re white or black. But if you do happen to be a brotha or sista in a bad situation, get out of it because if you’re keeping score, and I am,  the law is not on our side.

Don’t Let Stand Your Ground Kill You  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

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